Tests, Junsu, and AOMG

The events for this post took place the weekend following my LOE culture trip. As such, we are almost up to date with my life now! YAYYY!

Anyway, I signed up to take my GRE on Saturday, November 7th (my LOE culture trip was on November 1st) and I had one week to cram for the test. I focused on math because it's literally been years since I've taken any type of math course. I even missed my Korean language class so I can get a decent score on this test. I'm not saying I didn't study for the verbal reasoning part, I did. I practiced with vocabulary flashcards and did a ton of practice questions. But I've always been good at English, but I've always had to work harder on math.

After a week of pushing myself and studying with minimal sleep (I can function on 4 hours, I just prefer 8-10), I went to Seoul directly after work on Friday. Why Seoul? They don't offer classes in Gwangju, it takes too long to get to Busan, and I don't know my way around the other 2 cities they offer the test in. During that drive, I focused on vocabulary. When I got to Seoul and got to the place I was going to stay at, I showered and studied just a little bit more before finally heading to bed.

I woke up at 8am for my 10am appointment. The location wasn't far from where I was staying (2 subway stops away) but I had to get food and make sure I could find the venue. I arrived 30 minutes early and signed in to take the test. They were serious about cheating though,  EVERYONE was searched before they entered the room and they had metal detectors and everything. Anyway, after spending about 4 hours testing, I was able to see my scores on the verbal and quantitative reasoning (I got average scores) and I was out.

After the test, I had something to look forward to: Xia Junsu live in concert at Jamsil. I was soooooo happy. I consider Junsu to be one of the best vocalists I've ever heard, so being able to go to his concert was a dream come true. If I ever meet him, I'll ask him to become my voice instructor. I'm not lying. Anyway, I was going to meet Krystal (Junsu's wife although he don't know it yet) at Jamsil and I got us some food before heading over (only 4 subway stations away). After a series of small mishaps, I made it to the stadium and met some new friends that Krystal made who were all foreign and who all agreed Junsu is a superb singer.

We had standing tickets, so we wanted to be there early. Turns out we didn't really need to.

After hours of waiting, we were finally called to line up. Korea has a system about lining up because fans can get really crazy. They have numbers on their tickets and everyone has to line up in order if you're standing, and you are let in based on what number you are. It's a very efficient system. When we got in, we couldn't get close to the main stage, but it's okay. All the fan service happens on the other stage, so we got as close as possible to that. We waited about 20 minutes for the show to start and then we were in the middle of the concert.

Junsu did songs from his most recent mini-album "Just Yesterday" as well as his most popular songs. He even did a solo acoustic version of "Back Seat," a song he sings with his group, JYJ. It was an amazing time. And Junsu kept looking at our direction as well. Why not? We were a pair of black girls in a 95% Korean crowd. I'm not saying he was looking at us specifically, but we did stand out. We were close to the stage. We were easy to pick out. And his dancers were really hype too, they kept smiling when Krystal and I would jam along. It was a good concert.

Videos are in my photo gallery.

We technically weren't allowed to take pictures or videos, but I snuck a few moments in, even though a lot of people's heads were in the way. I was just sad that I couldn't get his performance of "Incredible" or "Flower." Those were amazing acts.

After the concert, Krystal and I went back to the place I stayed at (with the permission of the owner) and had ChiMec (Chicken and beer) talking about the concert before turning in at about 1am. We went back to Gwangju the next day. Although we may have to see Junsu again... he announced his Christmas musical concert. Damn him.

The next week was spent trying to get into B.A.P's showcase, but I couldn't go, so I didn't think I was going to go to Seoul the following Saturday. Jay Park was having a party at a club where he was going to perform his songs from his latest album "Worldwide." Our rapper friend was gonna be there, so the Squad was thinking of going. I wasn't going to go, but the girls were like "Squad reunion" because it had been a while since we had all been in the same place at the same time, so I decided to go anyways.

Instead of going up to Seoul on Friday, like I normally do, Momo and I went to Seoul on Saturday because we had plenty of time before the club even opened. We met up with Krystal near our hostel And got ourselves checked in before preparing to go to get food and then to go to wait at the club.

We got dressed and got pasta before catching a taxi to Club The A which wasn't too far away. When we arrived, the line wasn't too long so we waited in a cafe for the others. The next people to arrive were Ryanne and Amariah, and the last to arrive was Saya. We got into the club, checked our bags, and managed to snag a spot right by the stage. Apparently our rapper friend saw us and waved, but I didn't see that. The place ended up being packed because it was Jay Park (a lot of people love him) and people kept pushing us. Honestly, I was annoyed before the show started.

And then there were these girls who came and stood next to us and started pushing us, but they complained to the security that we were pushing them. After the guy realized I understood a bit of Korean, he tried to tell me to tell my friends to stop pushing. I explained that we were there first and it was the girls who were pushing us, not the other way around. He tried to get us to move, but I don't think he realized how stubborn Black people are when we're wrongly convicted of something. I repeatedly told him what happened and what the other girls were doing. Eventually he gave up and let us stand there because I told him the truth and even said that he saw we were there first. The girls were annoyed. But they couldn't say anything because they didn't know how much Korean we understood.

Finally, Jay Park and the rest of AOMG came out at 1am, as promised, and put on their show. They were definitely turnt to the max too. It would have been fun if people weren't pushing so hard to get to AOMG, who showed my squad a lot of love. Jay Park kept wandering over to us. Teehee. The perks of being foreign in Korea. Anyway, apart from a small incident where I had to reign myself in (some people got SUPER annoying) it was a good show. Jay stopped everything to ask people to put away their cameras in English (but the crowd was mostly Korean, why use English) and he told people not to push because it was NOT that serious. Yep. Definitely born and raised in the States. No one listened until Ugly Duck repeated all that in English though. Poor Loco looked scared. Loco looks like a hamster. AOMG managed to finish their show, although Simon D had mic issues, and went back to the back.

Anyways, after the show, we dipped because we couldn't watch the after-show because we didn't have clearance. We went to have food at a 24-hour convenience store before heading back to our hostels. For various reasons, Krystal, Momo, Saya and I all decided to just go ahead and head back to Gwangju. It was 4:30 in the morning and trains would be running soon. I was iffy because although I didn't get a ticket to B.A.P's showcase, they were having a fair and raffle, but I decided not to spend that kinda money (I regretted it, but my wallet didn't). We made it back to Gwangju and spent the whole day sleeping. It was an eventful Saturday/Sunday indeed.

Beware of club concerts. They're deadly.

If you want videos, please go to my photo gallery.

That was last week. Nothing interesting happened this week. Lol. I'm out!

Cheers~~

Tripping Over Culture: Part 2

Heeheehee!
I told you there'd be a part two, but I bet you never thought it would be so quick huh? I'm an unfaithful blogger. Sorry about that.

This blog post is about my second culture trip, this time the one for the Damyang LOE. For those of you who don't know, an LOE is a subdivision of the POE, and my location is Damyang, which is half in Jeonnam and half in Jeonbuk. Let's get to the experience, shall we?

There are only 9 scholars in Jeonnam's Damyang LOE including Me, Saya, Gretchen, Sebastian, Kyle, and Fiona. I only named the people I talk to regularly.  Basically no one wanted to go, but I didn't get to cancel so I ended up going with 3 other people (Gretchen and Seb went). It was a day trip on the Sunday after Halloween. I had to be home before 3am on Halloween. The horror. So this trip included us and a few people from the LOE. I'm glad I went though, because it turned out to be a pretty good trip, all things considered.

We had to meet up at the Damyang Education office at 9 am. Gretchen and I went together. It was early and I wasn't happy to be going, so I think I got on her nerves (sorry Gretchen). We got on the bus right when we got there because the building was closed and we couldn't wait inside for another 15 minutes until we left. Graham and the last guy (sorry dude, i will forever forget your name, we don't talk enough) arrived later and we all left around 9:15 (Korean time... I tell you...) to head to Yeosu, which is where the day's events would take place.

I fell asleep on the bus even though the ride was just an hour (I didn't get my 10 hours of sleep) and woke up when we arrived at the first location, which was a temple. Yes, we love temples. They're pretty and the fall foliage was coming into full swing. If you guys want to see some photos, please refer to the photo gallery to the left of this post. Anyways, we walked around the temple and got to see the insides of the temple where people prayed, and there was another lucky toss well. I didn't try that one. But it was okay.

After that, we went to a location to basically take a walk and witness the beauty of Korea in the fall. The scenes made for beautiful pictures.

After the walk, we headed to Yeosu (the city area) to have lunch at a pretty good Italian restaurant. Word to the wise: Korean Italian food is far from authentic. Far. From. Authentic. It's still really good, don't get me wrong. But if you're looking for real Italian food, good luck.

But yeah, after stuffing my face on Italian food, we went to the performance hall to watch a REALLY long play called "The Last Empress." It's basically a play about the events that led up to Japan's occupation of Korea. I would recommend this play to anyone who wants to see a very dramatic retelling. After all, it is a musical. i'm not dismissing the historical accuracy. I'm no historian. Anyway, the play was definitely amazing, and I would recommend it if you can afford it. The musical actors were on point.

But don't rely too much on me, I kept falling asleep because I was so sleepy because I still decided to have a long night on Halloween. But when things got dramatic, I woke right up and I did that enough to follow the story. It was really intense.

After the play, we all headed back to Damyang (we made a pitstop for a snack) and parted ways. And that was my second culture trip in two weeks.

Wait for the updates about concerts and clubs. More juicy stuff.

Tripping Over Culture: Part 1

Hello, hello, hello~

It's been a while hasn't it?

This post is dedicated to the first of two culture trips I went on recently. For ALL the good photos, please look at the photos link to the left of this post. There you will see my complete archive. Yeah. Good stuff.

Anyway, on the weekend of October 23, 2015, the Jeonnam POE (Provincial Office of Education) had a culture trip for all of it's TaLK scholars, just like when we went to Jeju (to read, view this link: http://blazianmochaland.blogspot.kr/2015/06/jeju-part-1-maze-mount-doom-and-pigs.html ). This time, however, we went to Kyeongsan, which is where you can find none other than the Infamous BUSAN!!!! I love Busan, definitely my favorite city in South Korea. But more on Busan later. We'll talk about how it started before.

Saya, Gretchen and I were tired because we were up all night waiting for Verbal Jint (and we saw him, and he wanted to hang out with us, but that is for a whole different post), so when we got on the bus at Gwangju's U-Square, we were out like a light for most of the 4-hour drive to Busan. Another great thing is that there were just few enough scholars so that we could have to seats, so I curled up and said "adios" to the world during the ride.

FINALLY we arrived in Gyeongju, which is about 2 hours from Busan, and we had lunch because we were all starving. We had some fish thing, dwenjang-jiggae (tofu Korean soupy stuff) and lord knows what else. It was delicious so I didn't really care what we ate. I ate with Mr. Yang, Mr. Bae, and Boyoung, all important officers in the Jeonnam TaLK POE. It was a good opportunity to show them that I wasn't as asocial as I seemed, but then again I was. Anyway, I managed to use my budding Korean skills to hold a light conversation before we resorted to using Konglish. It was a good time.

After our meal, we went to a Museum in Gyeongju where we saw a wide array of artifacts spanning the recorded history of Korea as a country, before it was even called Korea (or 대한민국, Daehan Minguk in Korean). As a lover of museums, I was enthralled by all of the artifacts and explanations. Yes, they had explanations in English too. The museum was cool because it showed the progression of technology and culture over a REALLY long time. Korea was once nearly stripped of it's culture, so it's good to know they were able to preserve their history.

After the museum, we went to a temple. Yes, another one. But hey, it was still one I've never been too. Temples are all more or less the same, the biggest differences being the location and the scenery, but it's nice to see that they are so important to Korean culture, even if there are a huge amount of Christians.

After the temple, we went to grab some grub at a local restaurant. We had this meat patty thing that was absolutely delicious with Bibimbap (a rice mix thing) and talked and drank and had a good time together before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning, we went to Busan. My beloved Busan. In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then we rushed to the bus to take that 2-hour drive to Busan. When we arrived, we went directly to another shrine/temple located on the coast whose name escapes me. I might edit this post after I find out. This temple/shrine had a line of statues that represent the Chinese Zodiac, and of course all the Monkey kids had to take a photo together.

Don't we look cute? Heeheehee.

Anyway, because it was a beautiful day and we were by the coast, everyone was in a good mood. We took a lot of pictures. There was a cliff where we got excellent shots of the ocean as well before going to the main temple. On the way to the main temple, there is a spot where you can toss a coin into a bowl inside a pond for good look. I think if you make it you had good luck in the first place, but it didn't hurt to try. I missed, but an opportunity did not go to waste.

After visiting the temple, we went to an APEC sight and checked out what was decent, taking a hike along a coast. It was hot, but the walk was mostly in the shade. Yay us. after the walk we went to lunch and had samgyupsal (삼겹살) before we were left to our own devices for the whole afternoon in Busan. We were strongly encouraged to go see the fireworks in the evening. We figured we had plenty of time to see the fireworks, so we went shopping near Busan National University before going to go find our friends and getting dinner near Gwangalli beach, where the fireworks were going to be.

If you guys want to see videos of the fireworks, please visit my photo archive. I have 3 videos.

We were out until 1 am because we met a few friends who were from different provinces, but still came to see the fireworks. We spent the night talking and having fun before going back to the bus and getting back to our hotel in Gyeongju at 3 am (we were supposed to stay in Busan, but there were complications...). I was out like a light.

The next morning was our final day. I almost didn't eat breakfast because I wanted to sleep more, but it's the most important meal of the day and I usually don't eat breakfast. But it was provided for me this time, so I thought "what they heck" and got some breakfast. The last thing we did was go to Mt. Mireuk. We had to wait to get on a cable car that would take us high up, then we had to hike up the rest of the way. Before hiking, though, we had lunch and then we waited to get on the cable car. The hike up wasn't that bad, other than me not being used to the lack of air pressure, and I was able to get some amazing shots of the surrounding area once we reached the top (really, the actual top). It's amazing, you see how small we are just from the top of a mountain.

Any-who, after that trek, we all boarded the bus and went back home to our cities (this ride was 3 hours). It was a good culture trip, and I had a lot of fun despite my lack of sleep.